[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, good morning everybody. what do you say? it is friday, january 11. this is the "full court press" coming to you across this great land of ours from our studios in washington, d.c. on current tv. good see you this morning. thank you so much for joining us. we've got lots to talk about. we'll tell you what's happening here in our nation's capital around the country around the globe and of course, take your calls at 1-866-55-press. and yesterday president obama named his new treasury secretary, jack lew. jack lew who has one thing in common with president obama's last three presidential

nominations, john kerry, chuck hagel and john brennan they are all white males. does the president have a diversity problem? hey, we'll get into that. afterall, he is the first african-american president. but first the latest out in los angeles, here she is with today's current news update, lisa ferguson. hi, lisa. good morning. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. vice president joe biden continues his talks on gun control today. he's meeting at 2:15 this afternoon with representatives from the video gaming community along with researchers who study the effects of simulated violence on young kids. last night's meeting with the hollywood entertainment industry went relatively well according to representatives at the meeting. they said the industry appreciates being included in the dialogue and looks forward to doing its part in seeking meaningful solutions. it still is not quite clear though what more washington can do to force tv shows and movies

to temper the violence. as for yesterday's meeting with the nra that, one didn't go so well. yesterday's talks had nothing to do with keeping our children safe and was more about demonizing the second amendment. the nra statement says the group will "not allow law-abiding gun owners to be blamed for the acts of criminals and mad men." we know gun sales often skyrocket after mass shootings usually because buyers are afraid of the government imposing stricter gun regulations. we are seeing that in the wake of newtown connecticut. one thing we're also seeing is a big showing from anti-gun groups. in just the last month alone more than 400,000 new members have joined mayors against illegal guns, that's a group started by new york city mayor michael bloomberg and nearly one million people have signed the demand a plan petition calling on obama and congress to outline a course of action to end gun violence. more "bill press show" is up live after the break. stay with us.

right have, about the "heavy hand of government" ... i want to have that conversation. let's talk about it. really? you're going to lay people off because now the government is going to help you fund your healthcare. really? i want to have those confrontational, but to understand what the other side is saying, and i'd like to arm our viewers with the ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the dinner table.

>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: the nra not happy with their meeting with joe biden. good! we do not want the nra to be happy! what do you say? hello, everybody. it is finally friday! >> alleluia! >> bill: oh man friday, january 11th. >> alleluia. >> bill: are we glad to see this friday come? every friday we're glad to see. >> alleluia! >> bill: great to see this one particularly. oh, man, please, get this friday over with. great to see you today. we've got a lot to talk about

before we get there and say good-bye. we're just saying hello this friday morning january 11. great to see you. i'm bill press. this is the "full court press" coming to you live on your local progressive talk radio station. on sirius x.m. this hour only and on current tv, of course. booming out to you to ever corner of this great land of ours. so good to have you with us. as we bring you up to the date on the latest happening in our nation's capital around the country and around the globe and invite you to sound off on what it all means to you. 1-866-55-press. that is our toll free number, that's your ticket to get in and join the conversation. well, that's one of your tickets. the other, give us a call at -- sorry, i mentioned that. okay. on twitter at bpshow. follow us on twitter at bpshow. and give us your comments or on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow.

i am almost back in full voice but i've got the -- my back-up voice here. >> hear, hear! >> bill: standing by, the chorus, peter ogborn and dan henning. >> it's friday. >> good morning. >> bill: starting off to a good show. phil backert has the phones. cyprian bowlding here on video cams as always. so peter i thought i would try out this today. >> you look much more comfortable in that seat than being here in my job in my role. >> bill: i think the new model is that everybody should be able to do everybody else's job. right? 's redundancy. >> bill: monday could be running the board. >> why don't you come in here and run the board bill. see how that goes. >> bill: just pushing buttons. >> that's all i do. >> yep yep. >> bill: i can drive.

i can handle a computer. i think i could handle that. >> yeah. >> bill: answering phones. [crashing sound] >> i'm sure that would turn out well. [ laughter ] >> bill: cameras moving around. >> giving everybody a headache. >> bill: focus focus right? anyhow, good sigh you guys today. everything good? >> happy friday. >> bill: how about it. we've got -- we're going to be talking about a lot of movies today. i'm very excited because this weekend i'm going to go see "zero dark thirty." gotta see it. i was ready to see it before christmas when it first came out in only two select cities. washington, d.c. not being one of them. >> you would think by the way that washington, d.c. would be one of those select cities for a movie like "zero dark thirty" that focuses so much on the hunt

for bin laden and the espionage aspect. >> bill: one would think so. didn't happen. but at any rate, last night the critic's choice following up the academy with their nomination. the academy, of course, choosing "lincoln" and of course they nominated ten. critic's choice, they picked their number one. >> critic's choice for best picture is "argo." >> bill: "argo." >> i saw it yesterday. unbelievable. fabulous movie. >> bill: a lot of really good stuff there. >> what i think is so interesting -- it's nominated for best picture in the academy awards. benefit -- ben affleck not nominated for best director. >> bill: quentin tarantino not nominated. >> katherine bigelow not nominated for best director. >> bill: someone pointed out last night one of the shows i

was watching, that's bound to happen when you have ten pictures now up for best picture. in the academy awards. at any rate, ben affleck did have his night last night however. he was chosen best director. >> i would like to thank the academy. [ applause ] i'm kidding. i'm kidding. this is the one that counts. >> bill: a little dig at the academy. >> good for him. >> bill: how about that. so it's getting that exciting time of the year. and now time to go out and see these movies so that you're not totally left flatfoot when the academy awards turn around. michael tomasky from the "daily beast" is going to be here as a "friend of bill" little bit later in the hour. we'll also be talking about one of the authors of that astounding health report we talked about yesterday peter. that actually, the united states is not faring very well among

developed nations when it comes to how healthy we are as a people and how healthy we're keeping ourselves. and we will go to the movies with chris orr from the atlantic. but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> other headlines make news on this friday, major league baseball expanded its steroids testing policy yesterday. they came to an agreement with the player's union and will now begin a random hdh testing on players during the season. up until now, they were only tested during spring training in the off-season, three players last year were caught under that policy. this year, could be more. >> bill: why wouldn't they test during the season? >> it's about time. if they're going to be serious about it. they have two options. they have to either embrace it and say whatever! go for it and we have no major problem with it or they actually start testing for it which they have finally started to do. >> bill: good for them. >> in hollywood, more trouble for simon cowell and his

x-factor tv show which he created after leaving "american idol" with the hopes of make the best big thing in reality television. his latest star judge britney spears will not be returning next season. the show has failed miserably and the ratings on fox though britney's appearance did help it a little last season. no word why she's leaving. "buzzfeed" reminds us she was paid a healthy $15 million for just a few months of work. >> bill: you know what? i'll bet you simon cowell is still making a ton of money on that show. >> i know he is. i'm sure he is. but what a bust that turned out to be. i actually tried to watch some of that show when it first came on and the budget for it must be amazing. because it is a big flashy show. the fact that they just threw $15 million to britney spears to do nothing? >> sit at a table and speak her mind. wild. ever buy too much food and not eat it and then let it go to waste? happens far too often.

a new study by the london institute of mechanical engineers finds that up to one half of the world's food goes uneaten. the study finds that two billion of the four billion metric tons of food produced in the world each year goes to waste because of irresponsible retailer and consumer behavior and inadequate infrastructure. in the u.s. and other developed nations, most of the waste is on the consumer end. >> bill: you know, i'm not surprised at that. >> that's a lot of food! >> bill: you see people buying stuff at the market, just loading stuff up and taking all of that crap home. you know they're not going to eat it all. >> we, in recent years in my house, have like really sort of honed in on that a little bit because we realized we were throwing a lot of food away. you have the best of intentions for it but we throw a lot of food away. >> we're guilty of it. >> bill: you buy it and -- >> plus, if you have kids, forget it because you make them something you think they want and then they don't want it and

then what do you do? >> bill: you make them eat it. >> you feed it to the dog is what you do, by the way. >> bill: all right. so yesterday big day at the white house. president obama he's on a roll with personnel appointments these days. another big ceremony at the white house yesterday in the east room. announcing to the -- presenting to the nation his nominee to be his next treasury secretary tim geithner is finally leaving and the president turned to his former budget chief, now chief of staff soon to be treasury secretary, jack lew. president obama saying too bad to see tim go but we've got a good guy coming in. >> obama: i understand tim is ready for a break. obviously we're sad to see him go. but i cannot think of a better person to continue tim's work at treasury than jack lew.

>> bill: and the president said jack's my buddy. good having him around here but higher duty calls. >> obama: i don't want to see him go because it's working out really well for me to have him here in the white house but my loss will be the nation's gain. >> bill: i lost the nation's gain. -- my loss, the nation's gain. one interesting thing this is what's been getting most of the talk about yesterday's nomination is not necessarily what -- how good a job jack lew will do as treasury secretary. he's a very talented guy. i think he will be a wonderful treasury secretary. and just the right person to have at the president's side in these upcoming three fiscal new -- new fiscal cliff negotiations with republicans. but that's not what's getting all the talk. what's getting all the talk is the fact that jack lew shares one thing in common with the president's last three nominations. of course, you recall who they were. john kerry chuck hagel and john

brennan. the one thing all four of them have in common, of course, is they are all white males. does the president have a white male problem? some people are asking today. what do you think? 1-866-55-press. sure looks like it, doesn't it? especially when you saw a couple of things yesterday the white house released a photograph maybe it shouldn't have, of the president sitting in the oval office. he's sitting down. on the couch. and in front of him is this array of his advisers. they're all men. >> all men. >> bill: now in back of one of the men, you can see part of one leg and according to pete sousa, the white house photographer, i believe him that leg belongs to valerie jarrett who is hidden by the man who is standing in front of her but there are like eight men --

valerie jarrett is there. the others are eight men. not all white men but all eight men. mostly white men. so does the white male problem? 1-866-55-press. that question is compound by the fact that in the last three or four days, we have seen evidence of a fact that three of the president's top advisers, all women, are leaving. hillary clinton, leaving. secretary of state. lisa jackson resigning as the head of the environmental protection agency. and our good friend, hilda solis, leaving as secretary of labor. so now people are saying you know those binders full of women? remember that from mitt romney? >> oh, yeah. >> bill: when he was governor of massachusetts i realized we need more diversity i said bring me binders full of women.

maybe president obama -- we made fun of mitt romney when he said it. maybe president obama needs some binders full of women and by the way, that leaves kathleen sebelius in the cabinet. and they've said kathleen sebelius is staying but nobody's said anything about janet napolitano in the cabinet. is she staying or isn't she staying? so the president's opened himself up to some criticism here. charlie rangel jumped on it yesterday. he was asked on msnbc, how does this look? does very a diversity problem? >> it's embarrassing as hell. we've been through all of this with mitt romney and we were very hard on mitt romney with his women binders. i kind of think there's no excuse when it is the second term. the first term, you can say people got to know who is around that's qualified in order to get this job. >> bill: so i ask the question to you does the president have a little problem here with diversity? 1-866-55-press.

by the way compounding the problem, the president's now looking for looking for looking for a new chief of staff. everybody reports there are two candidates to be chief of staff. dennis mcdonna who is the deputy national security adviser. good guy. good friend of ours or the chief of staff to joe biden at one time. both are white males. nancy who is the deputy -- now the deputy chief staff under jack lew nobody has talked about whether or not she might step up to be chief of staff. so the problem gets a little more serious. look, diversity is important. certainly celebrate it. with barack obama. pardon me. maybe we expect to see more of it from barack obama. or are people just getting him too hard a time and should his goal be to get the number one best qualified position on the job whether it is a man or a

woman or a person of color? 1-866-55-press. let's get into it right here, friday morning, on the "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

you know who's coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys who do like verse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. >> she gets the comedians laughing... >> that's hilarious! >> ...and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there's wiggle-room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> you would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me. >> absolutely! >> and so would mitt romeny. >> she's joy behar. >> and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

>> only on current tv. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show" now on current tv. >> bill: you got it. 25 minutes after the hour. president obama got a white male problem a lot of people are saying today. indeed. "full court press." thank you for joining us.

i don't think president obama -- i know president obama cares about diversity. certainly. just who he is. he knows how important it is. he knows how important it is that our government reflect the diversity of this great country. he's made a lot of efforts in that direction. let's not sell him too short. look at sonya sotomayor. look at alaina kagan. where are they? on the supreme court right. what gets me is the white house has dumbly, kind of -- it's just dumb of them to let themselves get in this position. they're smarter than that. look what they did to mitt romney. look what they did to john boehner. they should have seen this coming and they should have mixed it up here with a few good women, a few good people of color in some of these positions. peter, what's the world saying? >> lot of people talking about this. we're tweeting at bpshow. you can find us there. disagrees saying the president only replaced one white woman

with white white man. hillary with john kerry. >> bill: the last four appointments have been white males. >> i think that what we're saying is -- right -- what we're saying isn't that barack obama is getting rid of females to put in white men but if a white male resigned, it doesn't mean you have to put another white male in that position. he could have gone in a different direction. >> bill: it just means that you mix them up. today it is very unusual. if you had -- i'm appointing four people for my top positions. and you look and they're all white males. >> fred wilder agrees. time for michelle and the girls to have a chat about words matching actions with barack. and maybe if you take a look at the culture overall 11 messiah says d.c. has a white male problem. it might be a problem of the culture. >> bill: carol's in albuquerque, new mexico. what do you say? >> caller: good morning.

>> bill: hi. >> caller: listen, you know, you asked whether this is a problem for obama. >> bill: yeah. >> caller: actually, i don't know if it's a problem for obama but it certainly is a problem for me. i spent an awful lot of time working on this election and i still believe it's the right direction to go. one thing i can say about the people i'm seeing coming in is that they appear to be qualified but more importantly, all of these women who are leaving right now would make really great congress in aren't there a few positions they might contest for? >> bill: that's an excellent point. hilda solis is planning on running for supervisor for los angeles county in 2014. so i know she'll stay in the public eye. i hope lisa jackson does, too. good to hear from you carol. thank you. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: you've got it. 33 mens after the hour. happy friday. january 11, 2013. it is the "full court press" booming out to you live from our nation's capital. our studio on capitol hill. brought to you today by the international brotherhood of teamsters. good men and women of the teamsters union under president jim hoffa building a better america. you can find out about their good work at their web site, www.teamster.org. peter ogborn here with team press. >> dan is in good taste today. he's playing good music.

>> i play good music every day. >> well, i'm not going to go there. you played the pixies. >> on the ones and twos. >> normally plays terrible music. >> don't worry. i'll play some sheryl crow for you later. >> you'll ruin it now that i've said something. >> bill: we're talking about diversity and whether or not the president himself who would have thunk that the first african-american president would end up having a little diversity problem going into his second term but he's off to a rocky start for sure. with the last four appointments all being white males and with three of his leading women nominees deciding to pack their bags and walk out and no word yet on whom he would replace them with. you know, presidents often get in trouble about this. let me say that more artfully. president obama is not the first president to get in trouble on

this issue. and certainly not the first democratic president. bill clinton got slammed a little bit for his lack of diversity and he struck back. >> people who were doing this talking or dialogue or talking about -- they would have been counting those positions against our administration, those bean counters who are doing that if i had appointed white men to those positions. you know that's true. >> bill: i did not have sex with that woman. miss lewinsky. >> you almost believe him. >> bill: so take that. he used to really get pissed. >> we haven't heard that clinton in a long time. he's fiery. >> bill: i remember it. >> bean counters. >> bill: his face would get all red. i was with him once at a little event when a guy walked up to him and raised an issue with him and pissed clinton off and he lit into him. >> oh, man. >> bill: there were three of us in the room. i just backed away.

i got into the wallpaper on that one. does the president have a diversity problem and how can he fix it or are we being too hard on him? lou from mount washington, mass. how are you? >> caller: pretty good. i have a couple of things. one -- about the "the obama hate machine." it's a great book. >> bill: thank you. >> caller: personally, i think this really kind of feeds into that whole thing. i really do. >> bill: what do you mean? >> caller: no matter what this president -- no matter what he does -- he gets blasted. now he's getting blasted by both sides, you know, the president can select people who he deems to be most appropriate for the job. when he selected hillary clinton for secretary of state, he didn't do it because she's a would. he did it because she's qualified. >> bill: he also got a lot of credit for doing it because she

was his political enemy. i raise that point myself, lou the number one most important thing is to get the best person for the job. but we live in a society today where the best person for the job isn't always the way it used to be. isn't always the white male. and we expect a little more diversity from our -- in our government. whether it's the local dmv office or it's the white house. and you certainly expect it from a man who represents our first african-american president. that's why i say this is not evil on the part of president obama. it is just dumb. they've got to know they've got this image problem. >> i think that the one person that tweeted in earlier that said that this is a d.c. problem. yeah, it is. i think d.c. can own some of that. >> bill: it is a corporate

problem. look at the corporate boards, right? >> but i think that that alone shows -- or not that alone -- that's part of what shows why this was a boneheaded decision because the times they are a changin'. they are. and barack obama should have seen that and should have known that and one of the people -- there were qualified female candidates on every list for every position. secretary of defense he could have made history by bringing on the first female secretary of defense. i think chuck hagel will do a fine job. but he had options. >> bill: he also could have said to susan rice, you know, susan, i understand. we may not win this battle but you're the best person i think for that job and apparently that's what he did think and i'm going to make this fight. it is important to me to have you there. >> it also makes it more important now than ever that we embrace your idea of replacing

hilda solis as secretary of labor with jennifer granholm. >> bill: there you go. started right here. i even talked to jennifer. i'm going to do her show tonight on current tv. >> you should say something. >> bill: yeah. maybe i should call her madam secretary. but i haven't even asked her whether she would accept the job that i've now given her. >> just details. >> bill: charles is in dallas, texas. hi charles. >> caller: how's it going, bill? >> bill: good. what's up? >> caller: i think this issue is a lot bigger than just obama and his appointments. if you look at the united states senate, for example, how many african-americans are there? >> bill: one. happens to be a republican. sadly. >> caller: so i think it's just a matter of the years and centuries of white -- dominated power structures that we're look at. >> bill: are you absolutely right. which is all the more -- why it

is all the more important, i think, for president obama to change that, right and not to perpetuate it and maybe that's why people are surprised. >> i'm more interested in color and in gender than the people policy's are right. that's the most important thing to me. >> bill: you're right. you got your priorities right. one thing we can be grateful about with the senate is there are 20 women in the united states senate today which is an historic first. i think you know, moving in the right direction. stuart calling from st. petersburg florida. hey, stuart, how are you? >> caller: good, sir. with the appointments that our president's made, i think that you've got to -- who is the absolute best. yes, there might be very qualified women but i don't see it being a big issue. it is just like everything be 50/50 in this country.

as far as one man one woman should there be one person of color. so everyone be appointed in his cabinet for anybody's cabinet. now if this was mitt romney doing it, would you be screaming more about it, how unjust it is or as a country are we saying say c'est la vie? >> bill: it is a really sticky wicket. there's no doubt about it, stuart. you touched on one thing. i'm sure if god forbid, mitt romney had knocked off barack obama and mitt romney was making his appointments, i would be scrutinizing -- we would as democrats and progressives, we would be scrutinizing every last appointment whether it was in the white house staff or the cabinet or any other position, right? or ambassadorships, to make sure

he had a good representation -- a good diversity quotient if you will or whatever. not necessarily a quota system. but you're right. we want the best person for the job. we want the best policies. but we also want diversity. right now with president obama lately, we're seeing the emergence of the white male constituency. when you look at the president sitting in the oval office and all of his closest advisers, people he really brings in to say you know, closed doors, just us girls right? and there are no girls. you gotta say what? this is the 21st century? one more. sheryl up in buffalo new york. >> caller: good morning, bill. i had to call. yesterday i saw this on that other morning show before i changed to current. and it really aggravated me

because they're complaining that he didn't -- he tried to nominate susan rice and we don't know what the situation was there. she may have said this is not worth it. i don't want to do this. so we don't know. but he did try and i just think -- i agree with president clinton. and that it's a quota. and i agree with some of the colleagues who say this president cannot do anything without criticism. both sides. >> bill: yeah, in a certain sense it comes with the territory. sheryl, you can't feel too sorry for him when he does four in a row and they're all four white males. >> caller: john kerry is probably more qualified than hillary. he is qualified for that position. probably better than almost anybody else. i would love to have paul krugman but i more care about the fact that it isn't paul krugman than the fact it is a white male. >> bill: all right sheryl, don't give up on your gender so easily here.

fight for women. there are women -- there are women out there who can do every job a man can do and do it better as far as i'm concerned including talk show hosts. 1-866-55-press is the "full court press." when we come back, new study says that americans are not as healthy as you think. we'll get into that at the top of the next hour. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." human being, that's really important. this is not just a spectator sport.

i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv.

>> bill: hey 13 minutes before the top of the hour. this is friday, january 11 on the "full court press." and as we mentioned at the top of the hour, there's not so much talk about jack lew and the job he might do as treasury secretary. as there is talk about what this means to the president's maybe diversity problem at the white house. did want to take a look at his credentials to be treasury secretary. what we might expect. one who has written about that, michael hirsch, chief correspondent for the "national journal" joins us on our news line this morning. hey, michael, thanks for getting up early for us this morning. >> good morning. >> bill: good to have you with us. so what do we know about jack lew and his credentials for taking over as treasury secretary? and his connections to wall street? >> well, he has superb credentials. in many respects. he's very highly regarded in washington. he's a budget expert who has

obviously led the fight over the budget for obama as chief of staff, as director of the office of management and budget so there's not a lot of doubt about his ability. what the question really is about lew i think is how well schooled he is in wall street and finance and whether in fact, he more or less, takes the same line that tim geithner does and it goes back to robert reuben whom both men worked with in the clinton administration. and that's this sort of line of least interference, if you will, when it comes to the banks the banking system. we're now in a situation where thanks to geithner's efforts, we did avert a second great depression. we also have a wall street banking system that is largely

intact where the biggest banks are, in fact, bigger and potentially more dangerous than they were before the crisis. there are a lot of financial rules that have yet to be written. people haven't paid attention to this because it became a big campaign issue in the 2012 election but nonetheless, there are big issues out there. they're very complex. the question is he up to it? >> bill: there was a lot of criticism in the beginning of president obama for his economic team put together a wall street team. larry summers tim geithner, i guess there were others all of whom came from wall street. what's her name? christina. >> christina romer. >> bill: she was the exception. first one shown the door, too. >> exactly. >> bill: jack lew is not of all street, right -- wall street right? >> he's not. >> bill: isn't that refreshing? wouldn't we expect him to be a little different in terms of his approach? >> it's somewhat refreshing but in a way tim geithner was not of

wall street either. he was not someone who went to work for a citigroup which lew did. >> bill: he was there as -- government official. >> geithner worked as head of the new york federal reserve which oversees the banking system. did go to work with citigroup. >> bill: oh, that's right. >> a number of people recruited by bob ruben. that is not itself any kind of indictment but the question does rise does he reflect the same sort of very restrained view, if you will, of regulation of wall street that i think geithner and ruben have over the years. and that's what we're going to find out. i wanted to point out in my article that, in fact, a lot of these rules are really being fought over right now and there

is a lot of agitation among people who do follow this on capitol hill about the too big to fail problem. the fact that these banks the five or six biggest banks are larger than they were -- they've taken over a lot of businesses from other banks that have failed. the rule which is supposed to restrain risky behavior by the banks has yet to be implemented. it has been delayed by six months. jack lew, he's expected to be confirmed fairly easily, is going to walk into this world and then how is he going to handle it? there's every evidence that he is not an expert in this area to the extent that he has talked about it. he's taken the geithner line. at one point in his confirmation hearings in 2010, he cast doubt on whether deregulation had a lot to do with the financial disaster. most experts would say that it did. so you know, it is a worrisome point about a guy whose otherwise a fairly -- you know,

impressive fellow. >> bill: i must say that i don't know jack lew personally. i see him in the briefing room a few times at the white house. he always impresses me. he is the ultimate budget policy wonk right? >> right. >> bill: reporters no matter how hard they try to stump him -- he just dazzles you with his figures and his footwork. so one thing i guess we can expect is that in the coming negotiations with republicans over the debt ceiling and the budget negotiations and the sequestration, i mean he will be -- he will be a good ally for obama in those battles. i guess maybe that's what obama was look for? >> i think so. i think obama is clearly -- look, some kind of a long-term budget reduction deficit-reduction deal is clearly one of the things that obama wants as a legacy among others. but obama does not seem to be terribly concerned about the

financial system. he gave an interview to "rolling stone" magazine last fall. he talked about a whole range of things with douglas brinkley, the historian. at one point, he said he was okay with what geithner had done. he didn't think it needed to be reinstituted. you get the sense between lew whose expertise does not include wall street and a president himself, you're going to get the status quo. >> bill: michael good for you to join us this morning. you can follow michael hirsch at nationaljournal.com. the "full court press," here we go on a friday. january 11. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

@ñ >> she gets the comedians laughing... >> that's hilarious! >> ...and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there's wiggle-room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> she's joy behar. >> and current will let me say anything. >> only on current tv.

>> bill: how healthy are we as americans? we'll find out at the top of the next hour. pete summer. >> it is nice you'll get a second opinion. taking your e-mails on any topic at any time on that topic. >> bill: complete physical exam coming up. >> bill, you're cured. i wouldn't be surprised if it came from a russian lady. on the idea of barack obama's cabinet -- you and your entire gender including obama are pigs. ouch. >> bill: i'm a pig? >> billpressshow.com. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey good morning everybody. what do you say? it is friday, january 11. good to see you today. this is the "full court press." we're coming to you live from coast-to-coast from our studios here on capitol hill in washington, d.c., bringing up to date on all of the latest news of the day and taking your calls at 1-866-55-press. and boy this has to be the fastest task force in history! vice president joe biden announcing yesterday he will wrap things up and give the president a list of recommendations on how to deal with gun violence by next tuesday!

boy, check it out. that's less than a month. maybe just three weeks from the time the president gave the vice president that assignment. the nra meanwhile yesterday said it was not happy with its meeting with vice president biden. which is good news. we do not want the nra to be happy about anything. their time has come and gone. lots to get into today. let's get right to it. but first, we get the latest, today's current news update, lisa ferguson's got it out in los angeles. hi lisa. good morning. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. president obama will now have secret service protection for life thanks to a bill he signed yesterday afternoon. back in 1997, congress passed legislation limiting aid to just ten years after presidents leave office. but last month the house and senate passed the former president's protection act which restores lifetime secret service to the presidents and their children under the age of 16. louisiana governor bobby jindal wants to eliminate all

income and corporate taxes in his state. he released that statement yesterday also saying he wants to keep the sales tax as low and flat as possible. jindal was a top republican contender for 2016. >> moving now to the pentagon, chuck hagel's appointment to defense secretary could depend largely on chuck schumer. he's the most powerful jewish democrat in congress. while he's kept quiet on hagel's nomination he told senators it would be difficult for him to support haiging because he does not believe he will be a strong enough supporter of israel. other democrats will likely follow suit meaning an opposition from schumer could cost hagel his candidacy. in the meantime, hagel is dealing with public opinion over his stance on iran. critics say hagel's been too friendly to the country over the years. now his new role is to convince tehran there's no backing out of the corner and no chance they can threaten israel or saudi arabia. more bill, next.

we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. who is this? that's pete. my... [ dennis' voice ] allstate agent. a "starving artist" has an allstate agent? he got me... [ dennis' voice ] the allstate value plan. it's their most affordable car insurance and you still get an agent. [ normal voice ] i call it... [ dennis' voice ] the protector. is that what you call it? the protector! okay. ♪ ♪ the allstate value plan. are you in good hands?

>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: the nra says it's not happy with its meeting with president -- vice president joe biden yesterday. good. we don't want the nra to walk out of the meeting on guns and say they're happy with the results. what do you say? hello, everybody. good to see you this morning. it is friday, january 11. this is the "full court press." we're coming to you live all the way across this great land of ours from our studio on capitol hill in washington, d.c. booming out to you on your local progressive talk radio station. you're lucky if you've got one and on current tv this friday

morning, good to see you. thank you for joining us. look forward to getting you involved in the conversation. giving. >> chance to -- giving you a chance to let the world know what you think about these issues. give us a call at 1-866-55-press. that's one way to join the conversation. or you can just go to twitter follow us on twitter at bpshow. or on facebook, facebook.com/billpressshow. you know all week long, i've been in and out, up and down with this still scratchy voice. >> is there a doctor in the house? >> bill: is there a doctor in the house? what a good day to welcome to our studio, dr. anna diaz who is chair of epidemiology. >> that's right. >> bill: at the university of michigan. i should have rehearsed that ahead of time. >> thank you for having me. >> bill: thank you for coming in. i look forward to your diagnosis. >> she's not here to cure you. >> bill: i'm working on hot tea. if you can give me any other

suggestions you might have. we do want to talk to you about this incredible study reported yesterday in "the new york times," you're one of the authors of it, that as americans, we don't rank so -- do so well compared to other developed nations when it comes to the health of the american population right? >> yes, that's right. >> bill: give us a 30-second -- >> the committee surveyed a number of health conditions they found that despite the fact the u.s. is a wealthy country and spends more than any other country on healthcare, we do quite poorly on a number of health indicators and a very striking aspect is that this spans a very broad range of conditions. life expectancy, mortality prevalence of many kinds of diseases and conditions. and that it's also present across the entire life-span from the very beginning of life all through almost to the very, very old. there are a number of different conditions that are affected.

>> bill: what a great time for the study. important time for the study to come out. right when we're really kicking in with obamacare and the affordable care act and kind of reshaping our approach to care policy in this country. one would hope, in the right direction. >> right. when people think about the reasons why the u.s. may have a worse health disadvantage as we call it, health insurance and the healthcare system emerges as one potential factor. certainly, it does contribute some but i think a key finding of the report is that it is not only about healthcare or the healthcare system. in fact, this is a problem that goes way beyond the healthcare system to encompass a broad range of potentially other factors as well. >> bill: so lots, lots to get into here on this health report with dr. ana diez-roux. michael tomasky is joining us in the next hour as a "friend of bill." team press is here.

peter ogborn, dan henning. phil backert on phones. cyprian boldting has got the cameras. we'll get right into the health issue. but first... >> this is the "full court press." >> quick check of other headlines making news. ben affleck did not get best director nomination for the upcoming oscars but that took a backseat last night when he won big at the critics choice award winning best director for "argo" and the movie won best picture overall. others included daniel day-lewis for lincoln. jessica chastain for "zero dark thirty" and "django unchained" winning screenplay. bradley cooper and jennifer lawrence won for "silver lining playbook." >> bill: it is getting a lot of awards. >> sort of a sleeper. i don't think a lot of people saw it as being as big as it is. it is a great movie. >> bill: i liked it. i didn't think it was great. but bradley cooper is phenomenal.

>> they took the romantic comedy enwhich has been done over and over and over again and they made it really original and fresh and unique. to do something that original and fresh with something that's been done before, i'm all for it. >> bill: to make a comedy about bipolar disorder is a challenge. >> members of the baseball hall.of fame spoke out yesterday. they're quite happy no one got elected to this year's class. associated press speaking with several long-time members including goose and dennis eckersley who says there's no room for anyone in the hall linked to steroids. they were happy with the bold statement sent by the baseball writers by not electing sammy sosa, barry bonds and roger clemens into the hall. >> bill: big statement there. >> and there is a new alcohol study out on tipping. just how much you give your bartender depends on what you drink. restaurant is reporting bourbon and blended whiskey drinkers are the most generous tippers in bars leaving at least 22% tip on

average on their tab while scotch rum and cordial drinkers are the stingiest always tipping less than 20%. >> bill: scotch is the cheapest. >> interesting to note the scotch drinkers usually end up with the largest tab because if they're drinking single malts those tend to be more expensive but then they don't leave as much of a tip. >> bill: i wonder what -- between how much you drink and how much -- >> the drunker you get, the bigger the tip. >> absolutely. >> bill: back to more important issues. 12 minutes after the hour. all the way from ann arbor to our studio this morning appreciate your coming in. you know what startled me about this, first thing was that in terms of infant mortality right, as you point out just a little earlier this -- the disadvantage of the united states goes all the way across from birth, all the way. >> that's right. >> bill: the idea that infant

mortality for the united states to be way down the list. why? >> well, you know, the interesting thing is the fact that infant mortality in the u.s. performs quite a bit more poorly for other countries has been known for a long time to scientist but it is not something commonly known to the public. this is one of the reasons why you know, this report is a bit of a wake-up call. >> bill: neonatal centers -- >> mortality like many other health conditions, are affected by many things. and many of those don't have to do with the healthcare system. the healthcare system is very important and improving access to care is very important and certainly the committee found that deficiencies in our healthcare system contribute to some of the differences but they don't explain all of it. or even a large part of it because many of these conditions are amenable but by social and environmental and economic factors which are not within the purview of the healthcare system. >> bill: well, in that case, with infant mortality is it

diet? is it nutrition? is it poverty? ignorance? >> it is probably a set of factors acting total. for example, the u.s. has very high rate of low birthweight and prematurity which contribute to infant mortality. the determinants, the causes of those things are quite complex and include medical care and nonmedical care-related factors. this is a feature in general of the report that many of these conditions for which we found these differences injuries, intentional and unintentional injuries, diabetes and chronic disease, adolescent pregnancy disability, lung diseases, many of these things, the healthcare system has only a small impact on those things. >> bill: peter and i were talking about this yesterday doctor. so when you hear people say, as we do all the time, we have the best healthcare system in the world. >> yeah, well, unfortunately that's not entirely accurate. in many aspects our healthcare system does perform well, for

example, in the u.s., blood pressure control rates are better than in other high-income countries. cholesterol control. >> bill: at least we win in some categories. >> we do. survival for cancer is better in the u.s. than in other countries. >> bill: is it? >> however, there are also deficiencies with the health system certainly the lack of coverage uninsurance is a major problem. there are other -- we don't emphasize primary healthcare and public health as much -- >> bill: or prevention. >> or prevention, exactly, as much as other countries do. the system is quite fragmented which also may contribute to deficiencies in quality of care, coordination of care. however, despite all of these -- these factors which are important, as i said before, it's important for the public to understand that the healthcare system only has a small impact on overall health rates in general. health is affected by factors which people might not think of as related to health and i think this is one of the highlight of

this report. >> bill: but you did mention we spend more money on healthcare than any other of the civilized -- >> that's right. we spend more money on healthcare. >> bill: we obviously are not spending our money wisely. >> very efficiently. i think that's an accurate statement. yes, given the findings of this report. >> wow. >> bill: too much on medical arms race or maybe still call it? and not enough on prevention? >> well, certainly that may be part of it. the emphasis on prevention. we also have to think of how social policy, economic policy, other factors community development policies have implicationses for health. for example we have a society that's highly based on automobile transportation just to give you an example. thats a unintended implicationses for health. physical activity, for injuries. so i think one of the key things the committee found is we really need to look very broadly at a

whole range of factors because this is such a systemic problem across multiple different conditions. not just a single or a couple factors. >> i think that's interesting because you think about the health. i think the overall issue is you've got the establishment of our healthcare system and how we take care of sick people versus lifestyle choices that people have made and how does that sort of compare to other countries because there is the perception that we are an unhealthy -- i'm not saying it is not true but that we're an unhealthy country in terms of how we treat our own bodies. >> well, certainly behavior and lifestyle factors certainly are very important to many of the health conditions that we found the disadvantage for. there is some evidence that americans have worse health behaviors than residents of other high-income countries. for example, they tend to be more sedentary. there may be some dietary differences. they use seat belts less.

so behaviorel factors -- there's much more obesity in the u.s. they may be contributing to part of the difference. we also have to think about what are the factors that are shaping the distribution of those behaviors. i mean why is it that these behaviors are more common in the u.s. than in some other countries? >> bill: in terms of everything being related and it's not just the healthcare system per se, you talk about guns. if you look at the fact that young people in this country -- that was one of your principle findings,as i recall, aren't living as long as they are life expectancy in other countries so many are getting kill by guns every year, right? >> well, certainly yeah. unintentional injuries are one of the big categories in which the u.s. -- intentional and unintentional is one of the categories that the u.s. does worse. the death rate from homicide is seven times higher in the u.s.

than in other high-income countries. the death rate from shootings is 20% higher. these are very stark numbers. certainly injuries contribute to an important portion of mortality before 50 both in men and women. but especially in men. so certainly violence and homicide are important contributors. the committee, i think was quite surprised to see how big this difference is. >> bill: why is it that with all of this talk. you heard the arguments when obama care was being debated in the congress. we shouldn't touch our current system. we've got best in the world. we spend more money and get more for it than anybody else. this report by -- is it the university of michigan or -- >> this is a report -- a committee from the national academy of sciences, the institute of medicine put together a committee to evaluate

the u.s. health disadvantage. prior reports had shown that in older people, people above 50 the u.s. does worse than other high-income countries. we focused on younger in particular. the whole age span but in particular younger people. >> bill: americans have worse health than people in other high-income countries. health disadvantage is pervasive across age and socioeconomic groups. ana diez-roux in studio with us ready to take your questions. we'll continue our conversation at 1-866-55-press here on today's "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. right have, about the "heavy hand of government" ... i want to have that conversation. really? you know i'd like to arm

our viewers with the ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the dinner table.

alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: how healthy are we as a people? it is 25 minutes after the hour. good morning everybody on a friday january 11. the "full court press." we're talking about this latest study from the national academy of sciences. americans have a health disadvantage across the board. one of the authors of the study dr. ana diez-roux we're fortunate to have in studio with us. nice to see you again. peter, a question? >> we're tweeting at bpshow. you can find us there. doctor ruth wrote us and said please ask your guest about a profit healthcare versus a more socialized approach to the delivery system. >> so i think the most important point is to think about how we

can organize our health system so that we emphasize prevention in addition to treatment and how we can also, as i said before, focus, think about the ways in which many other things that we do outside the healthcare system, affect health. because although improving access to healthcare, improving the organization and the way our health system functions is very important, it's not going to eliminate all of the disadvantages we've documented because many of these conditions are really not amenable in a large part to changes in the organization of the health system. certainly thinking about how we can emphasize public health, emphasize prevention, improve coordination of care within our health system is -- improve coverage, obviously is very, very important. >> bill: seems to me, there is an easy way to answer the question. look at countries who have -- what people call socialized medicine. single payer. i think it's the way to go. canada sweden, france. they do better than we do, don't

they? in your study? >> yes we found the u.s. -- when you look at death rates for example it is at the very bottom of the 17 countries we compared. it is very striking. 15 16th or 17th ranked. now these countries differ in many things and one of the recommendations of the report is to look carefully at the policies and systems that are present in other countries and to think about how some of those may be applicable or adapted to the u.s. context. >> bill: how about a quick question from andy up in hyannis, massachusetts. hi andy. good morning. >> caller: you guys kind of stole my thunder a bit here. my point was -- while i was listening to the good doctor was she mentioned blood pressure and cancer and what a coincidence those are probably the two most profitable aspects of medicine. we sell more than anyone in the world. wow, we have better blood

pressure. >> bill: interesting. thanks andy. a quick comment from the doctor. >> i didn't quite hear the question that well. >> bill: he was saying what a coincidence that the cancer and where we do well. blood pressure and cancer are the two big money-making parts. >> you know, i would be hesitant to say whether there is a connection there. there may be many reasons why we do in cancer survival and blood pressure control that don't have to do with drugs. >> bill: this is an extremely important study. congratulations. thank you for your good work. i hope that there are policymakers across the board at the local state and federal level who pay attention to your study and change accordingly. >> we hope this will generate discussion, a national discussion. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

like verse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. >> she gets the comedians laughing... >> that's hilarious! >> ...and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there's wiggle-room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> you would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me. >> absolutely! >> and so would mitt romeny. >> she's joy behar. >> and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? >> only on current tv.

>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour now. here we go. happy friday. it is friday, january 11. this is the "full court press." we're coming to you live from our nation's capital. brought to you today by the communication workers of america. the cwa. good men and women of the cwa under president larry cohen. the union for the information age. you bet. find out more about their good work at cwa-union.org. it is a friday morning. we're sort of tag teaming our way through the week here. because of my voice problem.

peter ogborn, dan henning phil backert, cyprian bowlding and me, bill press. >> look at it this way. you are the rgiii of the team and i'm the kurt cousins. >> bill: my voice is about as strong as rgiii's right knee. at any rate -- >> it is a little bit better than that. >> bill: keeping us up to date here, those of us who live in our nation's capital on -- you know interesting stories let's say of the time where they happen to be taking place. local news editor and washington express columnist, clinton yates writes something called the root d.c. joining us on our news line this morning. good to you have on board. thanks. >> how is it going bill? how are you? >> bill: not too bad. >> if bill is the rgiii and i'm kurt cousins we'll call clinton the rex grossman. >> they give you that kind of money to be the rgiii? what's the deal? >> so clinton everybody in washington, d.c. that follows

sports, even if you don't follow sports, you know what's going on with robert griffin iii. he had surgery on his knee and some people even say he might be back in time for the start of next year's season. i'm not buying that. >> i'm not buying it either. the main reason is because this is surgery number two/three depending on what you choose to count as what are important pieces of medical operations. and i don't know, it is an unfortunate situation because i think that the major truth that a lot of 'skins fans don't want to face is we might have seen the best of the man i like to call bob because it's shorter and that's -- that is really unfortunate for a lot of people. >> it sucks. >> bill: for him number one. >> totally. but you know, this was maybe the most exciting football player to play the game right now. and the way that the redskins handled the situation --

clinton, who do you sort of point the finger at when you look at this? does he hold the blame? is it shanahan? is it the organization in general. >> it is a toxic franchise. if you rated the different franchises in the nfl that have a high level of toxicity, redskins are probably in the top five. of that group. and my colleague thomas boswell wrote a column about this. he wasn't necessarily blaming directly the redskins but his point is when you go for the quick fix at all times, it is impossible to see the long-term view. that was the case that happened in that game. even beyond what was the injury, it wasn't the smart move to win that specific game. the short-term move, in my opinion, was the wrong move and in the long-term it didn't work out either. >> suched a good point. if you look at the franchise at least under the leadership of the danny dan schneider it has been quick fix after quick fix.

let's get bruce smith to deion sanders. throwing people in and putting people at risk like they did with rgiii. they haven't taken the time to look ahead, build a good, solid franchise team and it really might have bit them in the last game. >> yeah. this is the one time that they did take the time to look ahead in terms of when they drafted him. how they built around bob but when it came down to crunch time, it didn't happen. and i feel bad for the kid. on a certain level because of course, he wants to play. of course he wants to get back in the game and run around but that one play early in the fourth quarter where he effectively limped for nine yards, everybody in america saw that and you knew at that point this man should not be on an nfl field right now. he's not physically capable. >> bill: clinton yates is our guest, local news editor for "the washington post" express. columnist, the root d.c. you've also been writing

recently about as many of us have, the issue of gun violence in the wake of newtown. yesterday, vice president biden saying that he will have his list of findings, including recommendations to president obama on this issue of gun violence by next tuesday. that's got to be the fastest task force in u.s. history right? >> i guess. but i'll tell you bill, i honestly don't think that you or i are going to be alive when we really see what is going to be effective gun control change in this country. you can make all of the laws that you want but as i've written before, the culture of violence in this nation is extremely problematic. it is not just about the laws. it is about this notion that freedom and gun ownership are coupled in a way that is necessary, that, to me, is exactly the problem with this country and until we can get our heads around the notion that more guns do not make people more safe, nothing's going to

change. >> bill: yeah and not just freedom to own a gun. it is freedom to own any gun right, for -- with any capacity to do -- to kill any number of people, right? that seems to be included in the definition of freedom. >> yeah. definitely. the assault rifle ban obviously is a -- that's a step one in terms of the entire mentality of how we feel about what is the notion of owning a gun. just doesn't make sense. in terms of you know, the logic to say hey look, if i have a gun and you have a gun we're both safer than if neither of us have guns. >> bill: think about priorities. i was thinking about this morning. i hadn't thought about the connection for some reason. george bush was you know, one of his signature policies was to do things on a temporary basis okay. the assault weapons ban was a 10-year thing.

came in under clinton. only for 10 years. george bush did not renew it. the george bush tax cuts for the wealthiest are a temporary thing, too. for 10 years. and they fought like hell to keep those things going. so one of them was important to renew. necessary to renew. the other one they couldn't care less about. seems they got it backwards. >> again listen, i have a problem with the notion that we seem to think that firearms are the answer to less firearm problems. it is a basic philosophical concept that exists. it's like look, just because somebody else has a gun doesn't mean that you having a gun is going to be the solution. the situation we saw i believe it was with taft high school in california. i'm not sure what reporting has been done but the first thing i thought was teacher talks gunman

out of shooting more people. that, to me, is always going to be a better solution than person shoots person who is shooting other people. to me, it is a very simple concept. if we make the point to the children of america that guns kill people in addition to the people who have guns, it will be easier to make the point that violence is not the answer. >> bill: clinton yates our guest here from "the washington post." at the same time if it's not -- the vice president made this point, too. i would agree with you that you and i are not going to be alive before we see this inherent gun violence -- as a priority disappear. you don't think after newtown we're going to see whether, at the state level new york, connecticut, or at the federal level, some steps to reduce gun

violence? >> i do. i definitely do. i hope that at the very least we can at least understand what the interim steps could be. that, to me, is where we are at this point of our lives. you have to start somewhere. we are willing to address it, to act as if just because we can't fix everything that we, you know, that we can't fix anything, that doesn't make sense to me. you have to start somewhere. gun violence is something that can be changed on a step by step manner. if we were of the generation where it has to start now even if it isn't completely fixed you have to take responsibility as a society to make that change. i think that's where we are now. >> peter: clinton on other topic, the inauguration is right around the corner here in washington, d.c. it looks like they're already ramping up security. they're already getting ready to shut down metro stops. are we going to have a situation where we had the last time

around where people were getting stuck in tunnels the purple tunnel of doom? are we ready to handle it? >> i think we are. i think it will be a completely different situation. >> bill: i hope so. >> yeah. because you gotta think back to what was happening four years ago. not to get too far into it. but the politics of the inauguration were -- they were unprecedented. people were not ready for the historic inauguration. there was a specific situation in terms of barack getting elected, you know. as a black man, there were a lot of people that quite frankly thought there were higher security concerns as a result. but d.c. has done inaugurations for obviously generation. i think at this time you'll see something that's a little more routine. there won't be as many people. it doesn't mean there aren't going to be tons of people which will obviously will be. it will be a little more routine in terms of what we're used to in seeing the celebration.

>> bill: our studio's on capitol hill. live on capitol hill. we we had national guardsmen patrolling the street walking up and down the street in front of our house. we're eight blocks from the capitol. it was insane. the intersectionses here on capitol hill, were all closed. this far from the capitol with national guard trucks. >> to be fair, you are a dangerous dude. >> it is what it is. >> bill: i'll go out of town. >> right. that's the thing. my thing is that it should be -- it won't feel, in my opinion like the same security crush that it felt like four years ago. sure, there will be a lot of cops, there will be a lot of guardsmen and a lot of people that are there to keep people sane. but i remember specifically four years ago never mind the cold.

that's a different story. my point is i don't think it will feel like the overall security crush that it was then. i think you'll be in a situation where it's hey these people are here. we're here. we're here to celebrate. we're here and it will be fine. it won't feel like the big problem that it was. >> bill: we're going to have a hell of a party no matter what happens. clinton yates come on and see us in the studio some day. >> i will bill. i'm sorry. i'm driving dora and things weren't working out this morning. >> you can just blame the inauguration plans. they shut down your street. >> bill: see you soon. thanks clinton. we'll be back to the "full court press" friday edition january 11. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." take action themselves. as a human being, that's really important. this is not just a spectator sport.

i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. is 1 minutes now before the -- 11 minutes before the top of the hour. in the next hour, "daily beast"'s michael tomasky will be here as a "friend of bill" and we'll be going to the movies with chris orr from atlantic. did i say it's friday? ♪ >> bill: we like to go to friday, take a look back at the week and our favorite sound bytes of the week. bring you our top five. we start at the bottom and work our way up to the top. the united states senator republican conservative from

utah caught on a dui. wait a minute. isn't mike crapo also a mormen? >> i have, on occasion had alcoholic drinks in my apartment in washington, d.c. it was a poor choice to use alcohol to relieve stress and went at ots with my personally held religious beliefs. >> bill: in other words, i have sinned. >> i have sinned against you oh lord. >> bill: then the dumb thing -- dangerous thing getting behind the wheel. he got caught. he'll pay the price. michael crapo. hillary clinton, secretary of state. back at the state department and she actually told reporters that she missed them while she was out sick. >> number four. >> i really missed you all. [ laughter ] i wouldn't say that -- i wouldn't say that under normal circumstances. >> bill: no. in this case, even getting beat

up by reporters was better than having a brain concussion. >> alleged brain concussion. >> bill: alleged. >> not sure if she was faking that or not. >> bill: president obama yesterday announcing his nominee to be his new treasury secretary, jack lew who is known as the man for the totally squiggly unreadable signature. the president talked about it. >> number three. >> obama: i never noticed jack's signature. and when this was highlighted yesterday in the press i considered rescinding. [ laughter ] my offer to appoint him. jack assures me that he is going to work to make at least one letter legible. in order not to debase our currency should he be confirmed as secretary of the treasury. >> bill: how did he get through grade school and high school with that signature. there is not one letter you can recognize. >> if you look at it and you try to read it, you'll get dizzy.

it is just squiggly lines. >> bill: he will probably have to change it. the most embarrassing sound byte of the week i think. brent musburger on the big name monday night. he was ogling oring on aeling, whatever the word is, a.j. mccarran's girlfriend. >> when you're quarterback at alabama, you see that lovely lady there? she also is miss alabama. that's a.j. mccarron's girlfriend. right there on the right is bonner. that's a.j.'s mom. you quarterbacks, you get all the good-looking women. what a beautiful woman. >> whoa! >> bill: all right horn dog slow down. look at that lovely lady there. >> horny old brent musburger. >> bill: al roker weatherman

having an accident in the white house. he had the accident and he had to tell us about it? >> when you have a bypass and your bowel has been reconstructed, you think you're pretty safe. i probably went off and ate something i wasn't supposed to and as i'm walking to the pressroom, i have to pass a little gas here. i'm walking by myself. only a little something extra came out. >> you pooped in your pants. >> not horribly but enough that i knew -- >> which is a common side effect of the surgery. >> exactly. >> fire got that part. -- i forgot that part. >> no. any time that you pooped your pants, you pooped your pants horribly. >> a little bit. [ laughter ] >> bill: al roker tmi! we'll be right back! >> announcer: this is the "full

court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. i can't imagine anything better. you're getting a ton of shrimp and it tastes really good! [ male announcer ] hurry in to red lobster's 30 shrimp for just $11.99! choose any two of five savory shrimp selections like mango jalapeño shrimp and parmesan crunch shrimp. two delicious shrimp selections on one plate! all with salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits. 30 shrimp, just $11.99 for a limited time. wow, that's a lot of shrimp. i'm ryon stewart i'm the ultimate shrimp lover, and i sea food differently.

>> she gets the comedians laughing... >> that's hilarious! >> ...and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there's wiggle-room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> she's joy behar. >> and current will let me say anything. >> only on current tv.

>> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: in the next hour, michael tomasky from the "daily beast" will be here as a "friend of bill" for the entire hour. chris orr film critic for "the atlantic" will be here to take a look at the latest list of academy award nominations. and to talk about "zero dark thirty" which opens tonight here

and around the country. president obama big day at the white house today. president hamid karzai from afghanistan is in town. they will start their -- expanded meeting of the president, the vice president and the president of afghanistan with other cabinet members at 10:00 a.m. this morning. at 10:30 the president and president karzai go alone into the oval office. for a restricted meeting. at noon, the president and the vice president and president karzai continue their conversation over lunch. and at 1:15 p.m. this afternoon the president and president karzai will hold a joint news conference in the east room of the white house. i will be there with the white house press corps to see the two presidents. come back and get the latest from michael tomasky.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, what do you say? good morning everybody. it is friday january 11. good to see you today. thank you for joining us on the "full court press." as we come to you live coast-to-coast from our studio here on capitol hill, bringing you the news of the day. giving. >> chance to sound off at 1-866-55-press. president obama has -- will soon have a new treasury secretary. he is jack lew now chief of staff. he's got one thing in common with the president's last three nominees namely john kerry chuck hagel and john brennan all three are white males. does president obama have a

diversity problem or people just being too hard on him again. we'll talk about that and a whole lot more. but first, she's got the latest, today's current news update from lisa ferguson out in los angeles. good morning. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. the white house is gearing up for a fight with the nra in the midst of meetings from obama's new gun violence task force. cnn is reporting that the nra is prepping a hard-hitting ad campaign mounting opposition to possible new restrictions. nra president david keen says the group is mobilizing for a fight and will engage its members. now the white house's plan is to outorganize the nra. president obama is rallying groups of churches, medical organizations and retailers all to build support for new gun regulations. the joe biden-led task force is set to deliver its recommendations this coming tuesday. now the most talked about plans include closing the gun show loophole banning assault

weapons and outlawing high-capacity magazine clips. those would all require congressional approval though and politico is claiming this morning that leaves obama with little power over gun control. if congress does not say yes to new laws, the president is left with enacting policy changes at the atf and the justice department. but that might not be his only option. yesterday, biden hinted that if congress does refuse to pass legislation, president obama could take executive action. aurora shooter james holmes will face trial on charges he killed 12 people and wounded 70 during the massacre at a colorado theatre. the judge heard the evidence this week and ruled just last night there is enough evidence to try him. holmes is supposed to be arraigned today but his lawyers say he's not ready to enter a plea. more bill press coming up next after the break. stay with us.

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: president obama names jack lew as treasury secretary. fourth white male in a row. hey, do we have a diversity problem here? what do you say? good morning everybody. friday january 11. good to see you today. the "full court press." we're coming to you live from our nation's capital all the way across this great land of ours, god bless america. this friday morning. coming to you live on your local talk radio station. lucky if you've got one and hope you know how lucky you are to have one. current tv, of course, good to have you with us. we want to hear from you, what

you've got to say is as important as anything i have to say about these issuens. several ways you can join the conversation. by phone at 1-866-55-press. on twitter at bpshow. facebook.com/billpressshow if you want to join us on facebook. you will not only find here this morning the entire team press peter ogborn, dan henning. >> hey hey hey. >> good morning. >> bill: phil backert on phones and cyprian bowlding on video cam. one of our favorites good friend, the ubiquitous michael tomasky here as a "friend of bill." hello, michael. >> good morning. is it too late to say happy new year? >> entirely too late. >> listen to dan. >> i'm sorry i can't stand people. happy new year goes for four days. >> no. that's far too short. >> you know what i say? two weeks. i think you're okay. >> i say happy new year to you guys and to dan i'll say

something else. [ laughter ] >> you want to go ahead and say that now? >> bill: i want to say it is the first time i've seen michael this year so happy new year to you. >> there you go. >> bill: when i say ubiquitous, it is because he is not only column for the "daily beast," he's editor of a great publication called "democracy." got my copy this week. you see him off and on all the channels. he sort of sleeps around, media whore as we call him. >> bill: the baseball hall of fame critics had their chance and i love that, "the new york times" yesterday one blank page how often do you see that in the "new york times"? it was the list of those who made the baseball hall of fame. nobody made it.

pete rose thought maybe finally. finally, it might be his turn. >> all my problems came when i was manager of the reds. it has nothing to do with the hits. i was clean as a whistle when i got all of those hits. you're not going to put me in the hall of fame for managing because i wasn't there long enough. that's another reason why people think i should be given a second chance. >> bill: isn't that like richard nixon saying think of all the good things i did. forget about watergate. >> no, it's not. i agree with pete. >> bill: you think he belongs in the hall of fame? >> i do. absolutely. 4200 hits. that's unbelievable! that's amazing. he was never my favorite by any means but he was a great player. i think he's done his time. he's done his penance. let him in. >> i agree. i get a little tired of seeing his face out there all the time. he can drive me crazy.

if you want to make a comparison between him and barry bonds there isn't much of a comparison. the reason barry bonds holds his record, i'm not saying this is 100% true, the reason barry bonds holds his record is because he took performance-enhancing drugs. you can't say that pete rose made his performance as a ball player any better by gambling. >> bill: i guess i'm tired of hearing him whine about it. he's almost become a caricature of himself. >> the answer to that is let him in then he won't complain. >> bill: stop talking about him. michael is here for the whole hour. chris orr from the atlantic is going to join us soon to talk about movies of the year. big nominations coming up this week. and chuck hagel, jack lew john brennan and john kerry all have one thing in common. a lot of people are talking about it. but first... >> this is the "full court

press." >> couple other things you need to know before you head into the weekend. ben affleck did not get the best director nomination at the oscar nominations but that took a backseat headline last night when he won big at the critics choice awards. he won best director for "argo" and the movie won best picture as well. other winners included best actor in a drama daniel day-lewis for lincoln. best actress jessica chastain for "zero dark thirty" and "django unchained "for the original screenplay. bradley cooper and jennifer lawrence for "silver lining playbook." >> bill: did you see "argo"? >> i did. >> did you see "zero dark thirty yet"? >> i have a 2 1/2-year-old kid. i'm not seeing many movies. >> iran is working on a rebuttal to "argo," ben affleck's movie

about rescuing detained americans. the country's government plans to produce a movie in response to what it calls an ahistoric film. it is called "the general staff." it will about 20 american hostages delivered to the u.s. by the revolutionaries. [ laughter ] >> bill: we look forward to this very objective documentary from the government iran. >> that's too funny. >> sports memorabilia collectors are set to make big bids on a old baseball card at auction. this 148-year-old card is an original photo of the brooklyn atlantics taken in 1865. it was found at a yard sale in someone's house in rural maine. cvs reports it is expected to fetch well over $100,000. that is only one of two such photos known to exist. the other is stored in the library of congress. the man who bought this photo along with a couple of other coke bottles and several oak chairs for $100. >> those are always the finds

you dream of when you go into a junk store, right? >> that's amazing. >> bill: i never heard of the brooklyn atlantics. >> old, old league. part of a league that doesn't exist anymore. eventually became the national league of baseball. but years ago. >> bill: michael tomasky there is so much going on and as usual you've been writing about almost all of it. where to start? i tell you where i want to start. we haven't talked about it yet this morning. are we going to see the trillion dollar coin? this thing has taken a life of its own. we have paul krugman, you know, nobel prize winning economist who says this is a trick. >> i think it makes a lot of sense economically but i think politically, it doesn't make any sense at all. i just don't see how -- it would become the instant butt of jokes worldwide. stand up comics all over the world would pull a coin out of their pocket and say hey look,

i'm a trillionaire. i just don't see how -- you get the american people to buy something like this. >> bill: isn't this like what dictators always do when their economy is -- goes to hell and they -- they're out of money and everything. they just -- print more, right? say it's worth gazillions. >> now this situation is a little bit different because this is -- you know, it is also crazy that the republicans are doing what they're doing and holding the debt limit hostage. so that's crazy too. but no. this is not the answer. i'm pretty sure the white house agrees. >> bill: krugman -- i adore paul krugman. why would he put his weight behind something so silly? >> i think economists in general don't -- paul krugman's definitely not silly. economists in general don't think about politics as much as they think about economics.

>> bill: the white house does. this week, jay carney, we were pushing him in the briefing room and jay carney wouldn't say no. so is he just sort of pulling people's legs, do you think? >> i don't know. >> bill: why would the white house want to even -- want this thing to float? >> if they really think they might do this, they've got to start getting public opinion ready because the first initial reaction of everybody, not just conservatives, the first initial reaction of virtually everybody is going to be what? are you out of your minds? so they need to work people through that reaction and get them to a point where they think it might actually be a sane thing to do. even that, i don't know if they can do it. >> bill: the inherent flaw in it, if you print one why not two. >> make a surplus. >> bill: have a rainy day fund and never get in trouble again. do you the next one except the next one is only worth -- it is either half a trillion or i don't know which way it goes. it is worth more than a trillion.

once you start down that road. >> that's not -- the only option is just don't negotiate with them and bring pressure to bear on them and make it so that they do, on march whatever, roughly what they did on january 1st which was that they collapsed at the end of the day and let the vote happen. i think that will happen in this case too. i still do. i'm one of the few. >> bill: do you? >> yes. >> bill: you believe this is huff and puff on the part of republicans, mitch mcconnell and the rest? >> not entirely. they're going to press for cuts. they're going to get cuts out of the white house. i don't think liberals will be ecstatic about the substance of the deal that emerges here. obama will be able -- if he holds firm on no negotiating on the debt ceiling i'll negotiate with you on the sequester but not on the debt ceiling if he holds firm on that, i think the business community the corporate world, wall street, everybody will come down on the republicans and it will be just like january 1st when even the fox news anchors were saying republicans, you gotta allow a vote. you're going to get blamed for

this. same thing will happen. >> bill: my column is up today on our web site at billpressshow.com. we've tweeted it out and put it up on facebook as well. about the chuck hagel controversy or maybe manufactured controversy. the headline on my column is smear a bagel not chuck hagel. by the way which i readily admit i stole. i stole it from the j street group. they put out a full page ad. i like it because to me, it really sums up what this is all about. which is a first-class smear campaign by john mccain and lindsey graham. is it going to work? >> no. i don't think it's going to work. >> bill: it is despicable what they're doing. >> it is absolutely terrible. the whole thing what they did to susan rice also. >> bill: a month ago. >> unbelievable. it is not going to work. hagel has enough support. enough support among former ambassadors, former military people. both parties.

former diplomats of both parties. there's going to be a substantial vote against him i think. by that, i mean 15 or 20. >> bill: republicans? >> yeah. i don't see any democrats going against him. we'll see. i don't know. they say schumer is going to send a big signal on the israel question. but i think chuck will be for him. >> bill: tough for republicans, i'm not disagreeing with you but still tough for them. here's a guy who is a war hero, who is a patriot, who is a republican. you know, who sort of -- if mitt romney nominated him, they would probably be saying -- hey one of our guys. >> of course they would. he's an -- as far as that type. >> bill: jack lew, john kerry john brennan as someone pointed out, they all have one thing in common. the last four nominees, all four

white males. you have hillary clinton hilda solis and lisa jackson leaving the administration. do we have a problem here, houston? >> that's a problem. i don't think it's a world-class political problem. in fairness to obama, three of these four jobs are the jobs that have traditionally been kind of like the light guy jobs. that doesn't say that you can't change that. and appoint a woman or a person of color to head the pentagon. obviously you can. but look, you know, i have confidence that the white house understands this issue and will make this right. >> it kind of goes with what you're saying. this is not so much an obama problem. it is more of a d.c. problem. kind of a corporate problem when you look at people who lead these divisions. >> bill: what surprises me, that this gang, white house gang who ran such a brilliant campaign against mitt romney, what ran such a brilliant campaign against boehner and mcconnell, they're smart. this is dumb.

to put themselves in this position. they obviously have some other people coming up. so i mean, you know, don't do it in such a way that you expose yourself to this kind of criticism. they should have seen it coming. >> they should have. but does this really do much political damage in the long-term? i don't see it. it is something that only your supporters are really angry about and it can be corrected. >> bill: i hear his daughters are angry about it, too. michael tomasky from "daily beast" here. "daily beast."com. this is the "full court press." friday, january 11. join the conversation. any question, any topic, welcome here at 1-866-55-press. michael can handle them all. >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show."

right have, about the "heavy hand of government" ... i want to have that conversation. really? you know i'd like to arm our viewers with the ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the dinner table.

alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> bill: it is the "full court press" on this friday, january 11. michael tomasky from "daily beast" in studio with us at dailybeast.com or on twitter at mtomasky. peter, what's going on in the wonderful world of social media? >> we're tweeting at bpshow at bpshow. tom schaefer says on the trillion dollar coin, given the intransigence of the right wing, i welcome a trillion dollar coin and put ronald reagan on it. shawn says threaten the coin in exchange for the mcconnell bill to get rid of reoccurring debt ceiling votes. and on the issue of obama's white guy problem cybercity says yes bill.

pote us has a gender and diversity problem. women are better negotiators. rhonda says always good to get up in san francisco to see the sexy ass michael tomasky on the tube. bill, have him on more often. >> bill: oh, my god. >> hey, ladies. >> why are we so surprised here? >> bill, you get this sometimes. >> bill: i was expecting her to say always nice to get up early in san francisco to see the sexy ass bill press. >> sexy ass michael tomasky. >> bill: she meant to say both. >> i'm not so sure. >> bill: now you know why we have you in. while we have your fan club here, can we say hello to beverly in chicago. >> caller: how you doing? >> bill: okay. >> caller: this is straight to mr. press. i was listening to joe scarborough yesterday morning for the first 30 minutes.

>> bill: big mistake. >> caller: rambling on about the president having all white boys in his cabinet and no women. now i understand why he is saying it because all he's trying to do is get some -- [ bleep ] >> bill: i know she's going to dump on me because i mention that. i'm not the only one to mention it. all i said was not that it's evil or wrong it's just dumb. that's all. >> that's all. >> bill: in between those -- i'm not saying don't appoint those four people but in between those, he could have popped in a woman here. >> right. >> bill: person of color. >> legitimate issue. >> bill: michael, in your latest issue of "democracy," you make a point that i find interesting that we shouldn't be too cocky over the fact that the koch brothers and others spent all of this money in the last election and karl rove, but didn't win. it doesn't mean that big money's still not a problem. >> big money is at work right now on capitol hill. and you know, most people don't

realize that when people think of money and politics, i think they usually think of campaign finance spending and contributions. but really, i think the bigger problem is the lobbying. it is more money and it really closes off the system to all kinds of progressive outcomes and just decent outcomes. and you know, dick durbin said the banks own the place and you know, the banks and a few other big lobbies do own the place and it does affect both parties. >> bill: we still have to worry about money in politics. >> always. >> bill: still have to do something about citizens united. you know where the koch brothers are spending money is at the state level. state legislatures, too. when we come back, chris orr joins us. we'll go to the movies with chris. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

like verse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. >> she gets the comedians laughing... >> that's hilarious! >> ...and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there's wiggle-room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> you would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me. >> absolutely! >> and so would mitt romeny. >> she's joy behar. >> and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? >> only on current tv.

>> the critic's choice for best picture is "argo." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: how about it. 33 minutes after the hour. that was the critic's choice announcement yesterday last night in hollywood. their number one choice for the year. "argo," not "lincoln" which was one of those nominated. certainly for the academy and most people say looks like it will be the oscar winner. time to talk movies here on this friday edition of the "full court press." coming to you live from our nation's capital this friday, january 11. michael tomasky's columnist for the "daily beast." he's here with us as a "friend of bill" this hour. michael, always good to have you

in studio. for your fans across the nation. >> they're out there. >> bill: we know they're out there, yes. no better one to talk movies with than chris film critic for "the atlantic" back in studio with us for a timely visit. >> hi, glad to be back. >> bill: where do we start? let's start with "argo." were you surprised at "argo" last night? the critics. they're namely -- sometimes considered a more critical audience. that they would jump over "lincoln" or "zero dark thirty" and go to "argo"? >> i was a little surprised. but it has been one of those years where there hasn't been a clear front-runner. some people thought "zero dark thirty" would be the front-runner and the political controversy has undermined any momentum it may have had early plus the fact that nobody's seen it so it hasn't made any money. a modest surprise but not a huge

surprise with "argo." it was a successful movie. it manages to be both critically approved movie and a movie that was an easy sell for audiences. >> bill: you saw it, michael? >> terrific. i love the way it was very interesting episode from history which i knew nothing about and i love the humor that they laced throughout it. it was well -- very well done. >> bill: i'm glad to hear you admit that because i felt very guilty as somebody who lives with daily news and has been doing talk radio and television and i didn't know anything about these guys had escaped to the canadian embassy and were hidden out and rescued by us with a very daring mission. although i have read historically it does exaggerate maybe the tension around it. >> three cliff-hangers in a row at the end. waiting at the ticket booth and the phone ringing back in hollywood and police cars on the tarmac. i think all three of those are

fabricated. once they got to the airport they had a pretty easy time. that was it. >> bill: but it's hollywood. big story there was that ben affleck, who not only directed but acted in the movie was snubbed by the academy awards, did not get a nomination for best director. he was awarded best director last night by the critics. >> a lot of big snubs in the directors category in the oscars this year. big surprises. ben affleck, katherine biggingel low, the director of "zero dark thirty" was a bigger snub. tom hooper who directed les mis. quentin tarantino would have been a slightly more unusual choice but given some of the people who were nominated for director, some big names were definitely left off there. >> bill: at the same time, i heard someone make the point last night which i thought sounded valuetoid me, when you have ten pictures nominated now for best -- nine -- up to ten,

right? not every director of every movie nominated is going to be nominated for best director. >> no. it is an interesting thing. it has changed -- the dynamic used to be if your picture was nominated and you weren't nominated for director, it was a direct slap in the face. obviously that can't be the case. there are four people who will get slapped in the face no matter what if that's the case. i do think it's interesting that having lincoln now the clear front-runner but it is interesting that wasn't really a director's film so much as an actor's film. it is interesting that a few films like "zero dark thirty," like les miserables depended on any single performance, that be they got snubbed whereas spielberg and some of the others got that director nod. >> bill: even before the academy award nominations we talked about this the last time you were in, i think this has been a good year for the movies. >> really good year. >> bill: really good stuff out there.

not all shoot 'em up, violent you know, heavy porn or anything. [ laughter ] >> great year for heavy porn. >> bill: some really good -- so when you look at the academy award nominations you're right. "lincoln" seems to be the front-runner. that's a good list of candidates. >> they did a pretty solid job picking them. you know, i had quibbles here and there. i don't think there's any -- >> bill: you agree lincoln is, by far and away -- >> there are always ebbs and flows and a couple of years ago at this time, i don't think anyone was talking about the hurt locker until it started racking up wins in some of the smaller -- with some of the smaller awards. so i do think it is, at the moment, it seems like a prohibitive favorite. i don't think it is inconceivable some other dark horse candidate could emerge as a challenger. >> what about life of pi with 11. that was a surprise. did you like it?

>> i liked it. i didn't love it. it is gorgeous. it is visually sumptuous. but i didn't ultimately feel like there was a whole lot of there. it did seem like, you know, a lot nominations are in technical categories. it is a gorgeous movie. i would not have given him a director nod over some of the people that were snubbed this year. even though i think he's one of the great living directors. >> bill: the one that surprises me, bradley cooper in -- >> silver linings playbook." >> bill: gotten a surprising number of nominations. >> a lot of people are talking about it as the potential dark horse. i still have trouble seeing it because it is just a sort of small, quirky movie. people are comparing it to the year when shakespearean love beat "saving private ryan" because it is another smaller weinstein movie up against a big spielberg wartime movie. i think that that -- that's an exaggerated comparison.

shakespearean love was a big historical drama. silver linings playbook is much smaller, much more idiosyncratic. it is a very good movie but i don't really see it beating "lincoln" for best picture. >> bill: chris orr film critic from "the atlantic" is in studio with us. we're talking movies. big one opens tonight nationwide. finally after all of this publicity. "zero dark thirty." i want to get to that. but first i've got to come back -- you mentioned it, "les miserables." >> bill: i saw it last weekend. >> i was not overwhelmed. i was underwhelmed i would have to say. >> bill: have you seen it? michael? >> no. >> bill: do you belong to s.a.g.? >> no, i don't. >> bill: as a member of both, one of the real virtues advantages of the merger of the two unions is now, as a member, we get movies in the mail.

i've got an couple in the mail. i haven't watched those but i've seen a lot of these at the big theatres but i'm just going to say if i get a copy of it, i'll pass it along to you maybe. >> there you go. >> bill: i remember you were saying, i had the same feeling it is a huge, huge, big movie. over kind of a little story plot, you know. almost an unbelievable story plot of javier keeps popping up everywhere chasing this guy down who stole a loaf of bread for god's sakes. in france? bread isn't worth stealing. then all of the close-ups on people singing. you get a little tired of looking at the larynx. >> i do think it was a technical breakthrough, the whole singing live. they fell in love with it and they overused it. the first two or three times, it is fabulous but 33rd and 34th times, it starts to lose it. >> bill: it was a lot of build-up to it for sure. i'm sure you saw publicity trailers for it.

>> sure, yes. >> bill: it looked magnificent. it doesn't seem to have met its expectations. >> big fans of the musical really like it. this is really the choice that it had to make. it was its dilemma was how true it was going to be to the musical. if it was going to compress it significantly and try to get a wider audience then the true fans would have been infuriated. instead, i think it was a pretty loyal -- as such, for people who aren't big fans of the musical it is a long two and a half hours. >> bill: it is a long, long two and a half hours! >> 32 years and there are moments when it feels like it is unfolding in real time. >> bill: did you see it on stage? >> yes i think i did see it on stage. >> bill: i loved it. it was big. and i had no idea about the little story -- whereas with the movie, more attention to the characters and the development

of that which i thought was -- long compared to the big production. >> one of the remarkable things, they build these multi-million dollar huge sets of 19th century paris. you never see them because the camera is closed in on somebody's head the whole time. >> bill: all right. now, "zero dark thirty "requests opens tonight. i'm going to see it this weekend. chris orr has seen it. a lot of controversy about it, michael. about whether it is celebrating torture or whether they got information from the obama administration classified information they shouldn't have. and will this hurt its chances in the academy awards? 1-866-55-press. we'll be back. talking movies on the "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does

not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

i want the people who watch our show, to be able to come away armed with the facts, and the arguments to feel confident in their positions. i want them to have the data and i want them to have the passion.

>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey 13 minutes before the top of the hour, nothing better on a friday than to think about what we're doing this weekend. movies, still a big part of our lives, especially around the oscar time. it is 13 minutes before the top of the hour this friday, january 11. michael tomasky from the "daily beast" movie-goer here when he can, despite having a 2 1/2-year-old at home. chris orr film critic for "the atlantic." so "zero dark thirty," you've seen it. >> i have. >> bill: they opened it up just enough in two cities right

before the end of the year so it would qualify. it really is not fair. it may backfire for them. >> i think it probably has a bit. there's been so much discussion of the movie. a lot of criticism of the movie before almost anyone in the country has had a chance to see it. >> bill: almost a month of build-up where you can't see it. even like me, i wanted to. whatever that date was in december, i called a friend of mine and said we're going to the movies tonight. we're going to see "zero dark thirty" and then i looked and realized i have to live in new york or l.a. >> it is a movie you want to talk about and nobody's seen it. >> bill: there are people who say that it celebrates torture and that they got information from the c.i.a. or from the white house that they should never have been able to -- as hollywood directors shouldn't have access to. is it a good movie or not isn't that what should count? >> i think it's the best movie of the year hands down. i thought it was a tremendous

movie. as for the two controversies, on the question of whether the c.i.a. should have cooperated with them, i don't think they should have, no. not because i think that there was any breach of national security or anything. not that i would know. but i don't think it is appropriate for the government to share information with filmmakers that it's not sharing with journalists and historians and the public at large. i think it has created trouble for the movie in the long run because people don't know what parts of it are based on fact and what parts of it are based on invention. >> bill: how did they get that kind of access, michael? >> the government knows who katherine bigelow is and the kind of movie she made before and they think they know what kind of movie she's going to make which was the kind of movie she made and so they cooperate of course. they want -- this is how -- this is how most people are going to know throughout history what that raid was. so the government wants to help out. >> bill: from that movie not from anything barack obama said. >> not from the actual -- >> bill: newsreels or news

clips. >> i will note that i think most of the people who have followed this closely mark bowd-a good piece about it on the atlantic web site do think that the movie did an extremely good job of following the facts as they're known. obviously they needed to be dramatically compressed because you're talking about ten years of intelligence work here that you've got to squeeze into a two and a half hour movie. >> bill: the director of the c.i.a. came out and said -- criticized the movie and said it exaggerated how much information they actually got out of enhanced interrogation. >> this is one of those areas where it is really hard to know exactly where the truth lies. i don't pretend to. as for the question of whether the movie is pro torture i really encourage people to see it. when i saw the film, the first time, it was before this controversy really came up, my first thought was well, nobody's ever going to argue against that water boarding is not torture as dick cheney and charles krauthammer and all kinds of

people argued at the time. the torture scenes are quite painful. you hear about stretch positions. you're hanging them from ropes by the ceiling. it is basically -- short-term crucifixion. these scenes are quite horrific. the main character who was subjected to these tortures, i think is fairly sympathetic. he's not portrayed as some horrible villain who you want to see pain inflicted upon. as to the question of what came out of the torture again i can't speak to the exact accuracy. you know, i think it is exaggerated. there are few things that the movie does. undercut the idea that torture is effective. there are two figures in the movie who we see waterboarded. neither one of them gives up any intelligence of use whatsoever under waterboarding. one of them later gives up intelligence but he gives up intelligence after they've stopped with all of the enhance the interrogation.

they trick him into thinking he has already given enough intelligence. >> bill: this reopens this whole controversy, doesn't it, michael? >> sure. with john mccain and dianne feinstein and you know, other people agreeing and you know, they actually -- that makes me a little uncomfortable. like they're not movie critics. i'm actually sympathetic. i haven't seen it. but i'm a public -- i'm a pundit. i'm a little skeptical of it. i've read things like jane mayor has written about it. i'm probably sympathetic to the idea that bigelow is so immersed in that world that she's maybe lost a little bit of objectivity. but i'm not comfortable with senators sounding off on these things. >> bill: michael, you have written a lot recently about the republican party's need to reform and to kind of look at who the party is and where is the party coming from. does lincoln give the republican party an opportunity to do that?

>> no! it should but it's not an opportunity they're going to take. this is another interesting hollywood/washington conversation. the lessons washington has taken away from "lincoln." david brooks wrote the column, it shows the need for compromise. well no, lincoln didn't compromise. he didn't compromise at all on his goals. ef steadfast on his goals. he was no negotiating on the debt ceiling man! he didn't compromise. he compromised on the tactics used to achieve the goal but he didn't -- >> bribery. >> but he didn't compromise on the goal. >> bill: he knew -- he knew where he was coming from and he stuck to it. absolutely. very very strong message there. michael tomasky, always good to see you my friend. thank you for coming in.

enjoy the movies this weekend. take the kid what the hell. chris, thank you so much for coming in. >> it was a pleasure. >> bill: all right. follow him at theatlantic.com. i'll be back with today's parting shot. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

(vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: on this friday, january 11, my parting shot for today, you know expectations were certainly low for yesterday's meeting between the nra and vice president joe biden and those expectations were met. the head of the nra came out

afterwards and said we can check off the box met with the nra and then go do whatever they planned to do in the first place. that's what we wanted to happen because the power the unlimited power, the days of the unlimited power of the nra are now clearly over. and it is about time. it's not because the american people have changed. it is because the nra has changed from an organization that once represented responsible gun owners to an organization today that is nothing but the lobby for irresponsible gun manufacturers. vice president joe biden says he will now have his recommendations to president obama on gun violence, how to deal with it, by next tuesday. good for joe biden. has to be the fastest job on a task force in history. have a great weekend everybody! thanks for being with us this week. we'll see you again here on monday.